The win is Ott Tänak’s second in a row. Hyundai’s Estonian star, who became Kalle Rovanperä’s number one challenger, is still far behind Rovanperä in the World Cup points.
15:16•Updated 15:45
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak has won the World Rally Championship in Belgium. The victory is already the second in a row for the Hyundai rally star, as Tänak also celebrated a victory two weeks ago in Jyväskylä.
Toyota’s runner-up Elfyn Evans succumbed to the Estonian driver at the end of a tight second battle by 5.0 seconds.
Esapekka Lappi was a wonderful third in the competition. Toyota’s driver from Pieksämäki already took his second consecutive podium finish from Belgium as a partner in the top three of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship.
– We are trying to achieve results. We have been unlucky at least once this year, the pace was good in Sardinia, but now the pieces are falling into place. We weren’t the fastest, but we didn’t make any mistakes and this time it paid off. Thanks to the team, there were no problems with the car. See you in Greece, Lappi said at the finish line.
Leading the World Series Kalle Rovanperä drove out violently and stopped on Friday, but was able to continue the journey after the Toyota mechanics hammered the car into driving condition for Saturday. In the power stage special test that ended the rally, Rovanperä drove the top time and grabbed 5 series points at the same time.
– I don’t know if this was enough to win the special test. The others will surely come hard. It wasn’t easy to pick up the pace after cruising, but at least we tried, Rovanperä stated at the finish of the special test.
Jyväskyläinen continues after the Belgian World Rally Championship in the still solid World Championship points lead. The difference between Rovanperä and Tänak is now 72 points, which means that the world championship is on hold in the next World Rally Championship in Greece.